Fast and Furious gun killed my son - mother of agent

June 29, 2012|Reuters

By Jared Taylor

BROWNSVILLE, Texas, June 29 (Reuters) - The mother of a U.S.federal agent shot to death in Mexico last year said Friday shebelieves the weapon used to kill her son came from a botchedfederal gun-running operation that put firearms into the handsof Mexican drug cartels - a charge denied by the government.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent JaimeZapata, who was raised in Brownsville, was shot to death whiletraveling in a vehicle in Mexico in February 2011 in an attackthat wounded his colleague, agent Victor Avila.

The agents were driving in an armored vehicle on a highwayto Mexico City from San Luis Potosi when they were ambushed inbroad daylight by suspected drug gang members. Two guns used inthe attack were later recovered and traced back to Texas.

Speaking at a news conference in Brownsville on Friday,Zapata's mother, Mary, said she believed the weapons wereallowed to slip into Mexico as part of the controversial"Operation Fast and Furious" run by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF.

"It's sad to know our own government allowed those weaponsto get into the hands of the cartels and to know we still haveagents in Mexico who are exposed," she told Reuters after a newsconference held jointly with Avila's family.

An ATF spokeswoman said Friday that the weapons used in theattack on Zapata and Avila were not linked to Fast and Furious.The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.

Fast and Furious was a federal law enforcement programintended to track weapons sold in Arizona that were suspected ofbeing transported to Mexico for use by violent drug cartels.

Republicans accuse the Obama administration of allowingguns to enter Mexico that were used in at least one case to killa U.S. official - Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was shotdead during a confrontation with suspected border bandits inArizona in December 2010.

Following Zapata's murder, the ATF traced the assault rifleused in the shooting to a purchase made by three Dallas-areamen, who were sentenced in February for buying a dozen firearmstransferred to the Zetas, one of Mexico's most feared druggangs.

Lawyers representing Avila and the Zapata family filed threeclaims June 14 against federal agencies, demanding more than $62million in damages in what one of the lawyers said was aprecursor to a federal suit.

Mary Zapata said federal officials have not shared anydetails surrounding her son's death beyond what has already beenreported in the media.

"It has been very difficult," she said. "I feel like I owemy son justice and we haven't gotten it."

Avila has recovered from the gunshot wounds to his leg, butremains on leave from ICE as he continues to recoveremotionally, said his sister and lawyer, Magdalena Villalobos.

"There's not a day that goes by - not a moment - that thisisn't on his mind," she said. "It's been very difficult."

An alleged member of the Zetas cartel, Julian ZapataEspinoza, was subsequently arrested and extradited to the UnitedStates last December.

Furor over Operation Fast and Furious has drawn intensescrutiny from Republicans in Congress, and led to calls forAttorney General Eric Holder, who heads up the JusticeDepartment, to step down.

Holder was cited on Thursday for contempt of Congress by theRepublican-led House of Representatives. The Justice Department,which he heads, said Friday it would not prosecute him.